Manufacture of cement



July 2, 1935 H. R. DURBIN ET AL 2,006,386

MANUFACTUBE OIF CEMENT Filed July l, 1952 INVENTORS l v Harvey Randolph Durbin By mi Ejncu FasselY 'Patented July I2,

l UNITED STATES f MANUFAoTURf or CEMENT Harvey Randolph i' Durbin, New Rochella,@andV n EjnarV Posselt, Pelham, N." Y., assignors toH International Cement Corporation, New

N: Y., a corporation 'of Maine Yak Application Julyr y1, 1932, Serial'No.v 620,3@ v v `13 Claims.. (01.106.425)` This invention relates to improvements inthe manufacture of Portlandcement.

When a mixture of ground argillaceous and calcareous materials is calcined to the point of in- 5 cipient fusion, the lime in the calcareous materials reacts with the silica, alumina and iron compounds in the argillaceous materials-to produce `cementitious ingredients'.Y For one reasonr or ,fanothen however, th-e reaction between the lime and the other compounds mentioned generally does not go to completion, particularly with respect to the silica, and the result is that instead v,of the desired tri-calcium silicate there isinthe :product a substantial proportion of unsaturated diI-calcium silicate. Furthermore, `asit is notdesirable to have an excess of uncombined lime in 4the cement, the amount of `lime employed is ordinarily maintained below safe limits toV effect complete combination of thesame with the silica, alumina and iron compounds and to avoid an ob- `jecti'onable excess of lime inthe product ,i

Y I -norder to provide for more complete saturation, particularlyrof the silicates inthe product, `certain proposals have been made. y rAmong these proposals ,is the suggestionthat the mix-to -be employed for the manufacture; of,- ceinent be ground to an extremely iine state ofsubdivi'sion, that is to say, such that about 99 percent will pass a 200 mesh screen. This proposal involves the expenditure of excessive amounts for grinding operations, because not only'is the equipment relatively expensive, but thepower consumption is increased by about 65 percent over, what isv required for'ordinary` grinding. f

In `the patent to VI-Iarvey 'Randolph Durbin 1,700,032, dated Januaryr,22,j192v9, there is describeda process for manufacturing animproved cement rich in saturated silicates. -In accord-y ance .with this patent, materials in ground Portland cement clinker are reburned Vin the presenceof lime in excess of that which combines with argillaceous materialin a single burning. `Vi/hile excellent Aresults. have been secured in `the `practice of this process, which produces ay cement having superior properties, the present invention Vis an improvement in the practice of that process.

VAccording to the present invention, the improved product of the Durbin patent referredto may be 4obtainedandfeven improved results secured, as well asvadditional advantages, by separating ground clinker into relatively ne and relatively coarse particles and reburning only the coarse particles inthe presence of lime, In this manner, the cementitious vproperties ot the `mate;- rial constituting the coarse particles may be imtime:Oftexcegiyelyfne the process. In the present state of the art, a

proved,` rall withoutv excessive grimii'ng` of the clinker whichegrindingdoes not, in fact, of itself, appear to produce thewdesired results, notwithstanding certain theories to the contrary.v A more specific feature of the invention resides in separating rtheY coarse particles from ground Portland `cement clinker and re-introducing such particles into a kiln while a mixgof argillaceous kand calcareous materials is being calcined therein, prefN erably ina continuousmanner.

Other objects andvadvantages of.` the invention l will ybecome apparent asA the description proceeds, reference being had tothe accompanying drawing, wherein: Y n

The figure is a diagrammatic flow sheet in accordance with one form of the invention. In manufacturing cement by one process according to the present invention, a--mix-,of argillaceous and calcareous materials from hopper 8 is fed througha kiln I from upper end 2 to discharge end V3 and calcined to clinker, which may, if desired, b e passed through acooler V5. The clinker is then groundto a` suitable nneness, for example, until 8 0- 90fpercent will pass `through a H200 mesh screen and vfed. to a separator `'1, preferably oftheair flotation type, though a vibrating screen separator or otherform may be employed, for segregating the relatively coarse particles of above about -60 microns from the fines. These coarse :particles may then preferably be mixed with lime and returnedtothe kiln through a feeder `ll, such as is described in the copending application of Durbin and Avnsoe, Ser. No. 583,268,

filed December26, 1931, or other suitable feeder,

located intermediate theends of the kiln, orvths Y mixtureof coarse particles and lime may be fed into the kiln through hopper 8.

Byvproceeding according to the present invention theunsaturated silicates in the cement are i,

converted principally to'trifcalcium silicate without `the necessityvof reburning the whole ground clinker as has previously been the practice. VThis results-in a great savingin heat since only a portion ofthe clinker need be reburned, and,

moreover, the temperatures" in the li1nmay Abe materially reduced. Furthermore, upon feeding rate,A conditions inthe kiln become and maybe As alreadynpomted out, `one "particularf advantage oi the presentinvention resides -inthe avoidgrinding aftipayilstafggm s the mix andthe coarse particles at a steady ,maintained constant with the resultthat a unicent passes a 200 mesh screen is considered to be the product of ordinary grinding,'and even up to 94 percent passing a 200 mesh screen is generally not considered excessive. Such grinding has been found to give satisfactory results in the practice of the present invention. However, the finenessto which the clinker is ground Ymay vary somewhat in accordance with the proportion `of the clinker which it is desirable to reburn.

While a range ofv20-60 microns has been inl-, i dicated as suitable for a dividing line between I' fclinker which Vfall withinthe various sizes, by `way of-example, one clinker ground to 94 percent passing a 200 mesh screen has been found to contain about 30percent by weight ofthe particles smaller` than 20 microns in ,diameter about 30 percent-between 20-40 microns,` presumably about halfof this 30fpercent being between 20-30 and theA-'otherhalf'between 30-40 microns, and the balance of the ground material, 35 percent, being -coarser than 40 microns. However, these proportions may vary with the constitution of individual products, and the sizesand amounts of the particles to be reburned will vary accordingly.

The fines constitute the finished product and may be mixed, if desired, with a few percent of calcium sulphate.

Although 'the coarse material whichV is to be reburned is preferably returned to the kiln, as indicated, through feeder 4, while a mixture of argillaceous and calcareous materia-ls is being fed into the kiln through'hopper 8,fand although lime for saturating the'rsilica in the coarse particles may bemixed with and preferably ground with the latter before they arereintroduced into kiln through feeder 4, the lime for this purpose might be included in the mix, fed into thekiln at the upper end 2, or, if desired, the coarse particles might be suitably intermingled withground mix,

Yor ground with the same and introduced into the upper end of the kilnthrough hopper 8, thus avoiding the need for feeder 4. As `another alternative, the mix andl coarse `particles mightV 'either' or both be introduced into Vthekiln partly through the feeder l4 and partly into the end of -the\kiln. The coarse particlesy may bereburned with added lime in a separate kiln and may, if desired, be ground to reduce theirneness before they are reintroduced into the kiln, or otherwise reburned. Other devices than kilns might even be vemployed forl the reburning. NorV is the invention in its broadest aspects restricted to the cient to react with the alumina, viron and silica in the mix to the extent which is possible in a silicates in the/coarse particles, without leaving Ian undesired excess of limein .the `ground clinker l a-kiln in a-continuous manner. single burning and substantially to saturate the clinker ground to such iineness that 80 to 90 perproduced. When argillaceous limestones are employed as a source of lime, in figuring the amount required allowance should be madeV for reaction between the calcium oxide and other ingredients of the limestone. Limestones in which the calcium oxide content exceeds the Weight of alumina times 1.65 plus the Weight of ferrie oxide times .35 plus the weight of silica times 2.80, are above the range of even high lime cement mixtures in calcium oxide and suitable as sources of lime.

Where temperatures of about 24002600 F. are employed in the burning zone in the kiln, and `the Vcoarse particles are introduced through the feeder 4, thefeeder may be located at, say, 10-15 4diametersfrom the lower end of the kiln, or where the temperature is about 14001600 F. These figures are, however, merely by way of example, for even lower temperatures may often yield satisfactory results in connection with the present process.v

Where the term Portlandvcement is employed `in the Vspecification and claims it intends any clay or other galumino-siliceous material oombined-with lime by means of a burning operation, and includes products obtained by pulverizing clinker produced `by calcining to incipient fusion an intimate and properly proportioned mix vof argillaceous and calcareous materials, especially `where at least a part of the clinker has been reburned to saturate the silicates. The term mix includes mixtures of argillaceous and calcareous materialsin which the lime is only suiiicient to react with argillaceous materials to the extent possible in a single burning as well as mixtures inwhich the lime is also suiiicient to saturateV lsilicatesj'in the coarse particles. By lime, as used herein, is meant any compound which furnishes-lime on calcination at the temperatures employed.

`ticles in fthe ground materialfrom the relatively coarse particles andreburning the coarse particles in the presence of lime. v

2. In the manufacture ofPortland cement Vthe 'steps lof burning a mixto produce a clinker, grinding the clinker,l separating the relatively ne particlesfrom the VArelatively coarse particles, and reburningfthe lcoarse particles in the presence of `arg'illaceous materials and lime suiiicient to saturate the silicates inthe coarse particles and react lwith the argillaceousmaterials substantially -to the extent possible in a single burning. dry process although developed in connection 3. 'The process Ias claimed in `claim 2 in which the burning takes place in a rotary kiln and in lwhich'the separated relatively coarse particles 'are fed into the'kiln intermediatethe ends thereof and the mix is-fed into the kiln at a point further' from the burning zone.

5.*Inl themanufacture of Portland cement the `-steps-of-burning` a'mix to produce a clinker,

grindingthe clinker Vtti-such fineness that about 80 to 94% is capable of passing a 200 mesh screen, separating the relatively ne material from the relatively coarse material, and reburning the relatively coarse particles in the presence of lime.

6. The process as claimed in claim 5, in which the coarse particles constitute about 35% of the Weight of ground clinker and are of a size greater than 40 microns in diameter.

7. The process as claimed in claim 5 in which the coarse particles constitute between Gti-35% of the clinker is ground to such iineness that about 6-l0% is rejected by 200 mesh screen.

10. In the manufacture of Portland cement the steps of burning a mixture of argillaceous and calcareous materials inthe presence of unsaturated particles of ground Portland cement vclinker to effect substantial saturation of said particles, grinding the vclinker thus produced, separating the nes from the coarse, and reburning the coarse.

11. In the manufacture of Portland cement, the steps of introducing into a kiln a mixture of argillaceous and calcareous materials, producing a burning zone in the kiln, feeding the material toward the burning zone, introducing into the kiln at a point nearer the burning zone than the point of introduction of the mix relatively coarse, principally unsaturated particles separated in the last step recited herein, lime being present in amount suiicient substantially to saturate said particles, andthe temperature in the burning zone being suicient to produce calcination of the materials and to produce a Portland cement clinker, grinding the clinker produced, and separating the particles of less than, say, 20 to 60 microns in diameter.

12. In the manufacture of Portland cement,`

the steps of burning relatively coarse principally unsaturated particles separated from ground Portland cement clinker, in the presence of lime.

13. In the process of manufacturing Portland cement, the steps which comprise grinding va clinker to such neness that about 80-94% of the ground material is capable of passing a 200 mesh screen, separating from the ground mate rial the particles which are substantially less than 30 microns in diameter, and reburning at least a portion of the balance of the ground clinker in the presence of lime.

' EJNAR POSSEL'I.

HARVEY RANDOLPH DURBIN. 

